System and Method for Marketing Over an Electronic Network

1. A method comprising: displaying at least one program display of a computer program configured to request and receive information and an interactive advertisement on a user interface of a user device, the user device configured to request and receive information from a distributor computing device, the user interface comprising a banner window and a browser window; transmitting a signal from the user device to access at least one commands configuration file that comprises: speech-to-text commands related to the interactive advertisement, at least one commands parameter for the speech-to-text commands, and at least one of a URL link to be accessed via the browser window for each speech-to-text command and at least one graphic to be displayed via the banner window for each speech-to-text command, wherein the at least one commands configuration file is hosted by the distributor computing device remotely located from the user device; presenting a message associated with the interactive advertisement via the user interface to facilitate user interaction with the displayed interactive advertisement, the message received at the user device from the distributor computing device; receiving a speech-to-text command; recognizing the received speech-to-text command as corresponding to at least one of the speech-to-text commands of the commands configuration file related to the interactive advertisement; responsive to the recognized speech-to-text command, updating the banner window of the user interface with the at least one graphic for the speech-to text command in the at least one commands configuration file and updating the browser window with the URL link for the speech-to-text command in the at least one commands configuration file; and identifying an advertising sponsor of the displayed interactive advertisement by specifying a path for the at least one commands configuration file used by the distributor computing device to facilitate collection of revenue to subsidize costs related to the computer program.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting a message to facilitate user interaction with the displayed interactive advertisement comprises facilitating two-way communication, and further comprises: receiving a speech input at the user interface of the user device; and processing the speech input according to the speech-to-text commands.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising selectively communicating information regarding the user interaction to a remote advertising server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting a message to facilitate user interaction with the displayed interactive advertisement further comprises accessing a user commands configuration file comprising user created speech commands, wherein the user commands configuration file is hosted by the user device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting a message to facilitate user interaction with the displayed interactive advertisement comprises referencing predetermined vocabulary and predetermined grammar associated with the displayed advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting a signal to access the at least one commands configuration file comprises accessing a launch commands file and a program commands file.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the launch commands file is read from the distributor computing device and not downloaded to the user device and the program commands file is downloaded locally to the user device, the method further comprising reading the program commands file at the user device.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising: the user device saving locally the computer program, and wherein the at least one commands configuration file is hosted at the distributor computing device to permit the commands configuration file to be saved external to the computer program.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the user device accessing a plurality of advertisements and associated commands configuration files hosted by different distributor computing devices.

10. An apparatus comprising: a user computing device having at least one processing device and a user interface, the user device configured to request and receive information from a distributor computing device, the user interface comprising a banner window and a browser window; the user interface configured to display at least one program display of a computer program configured to request and receive information and an interactive advertisement; the at least one processing device configured to access at least one commands configuration file that comprises: speech-to-text commands related to the interactive advertisement, at least one commands parameter for the speech-to-text commands, at least one of a URL link to be accessed via the browser window for each speech-to-text command and at least one graphic to be displayed via the banner window for each speech-to-text command, and identifying information for an advertising sponsor of the interactive advertisement to facilitate collection of revenue to subsidize costs related to the computer program, wherein the at least one commands configuration file is hosted by the distributor computing device located remotely from the user computing device; the user device configured to present a message associated with the interactive advertisement via the user interface to facilitate user interaction with the interactive advertisement and update the display in response to the user interaction received, the message received at the user device from the distributor computing device; the at least one processing device of the user computing device being configured to receive a speech-to-text command, recognize the received speech-to-text command as corresponding to at least one of the speech-to-text commands of the commands configuration file related to the interactive advertisement, and, responsive to the recognized speech-to-text command, update at least one of the banner window with the at least one graphic for the speech-to-text command in the at least one commands configuration file and update the browser window according to the URL link for the speech-to-text command in the at least one commands configuration file.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the user computing device is configured to facilitate two-way communication and is configured to: receive a speech input at the user interface of the user computing device; and process the speech input according to the speech-to-text commands.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the user computing device is configured to selectively communicate information regarding the user interaction to a remote advertising server.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising the user computing device configured to access a user commands configuration file with user created speech commands, wherein the user commands configuration file is hosted by the user computing device.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the user computing device is configured to access a launch commands file and a program commands file, wherein the launch commands file is read from the distributor computing device and not downloaded to the user computing device and the program commands file is saved locally at the user computing device.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising at least one memory, wherein the computer program is saved locally in the at least one memory.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein: the user computing device is configured to affect the user interface to display a plurality of interactive advertisements, and the user computing device is configured to control the computer program to access a plurality of associated commands configuration files hosted by different distributor computing devices.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one commands configuration file has a default path and a sponsor identification path.

18. The method of claim 2 further comprising generating a spoken message at the user device.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the user computing device is configured to generate a spoken message.